Kiwi

Keys - Rosie Gaines
drums - Poogie Bell
bass - Meshell Nedgeocello
guitar - Alan Muphy
Vocals -Freddie Mercury

Yes, its an integrated 5 string unit rather than separate units.

The Sandbergs are very different from Warwick basses, there's no comparison really. A Basic 5 like that shown would set you back about £700 from Thomann. That's about the same price as a used SR5 and they're every bit as good in terms of spec!

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/sandberg_basic5_bl.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/sandberg_basic5_bl.htm[/url]

The bass fanatic side of things is pretty much covered by Bassday as far as I can see. Its well resourced and they do a fantastic job of organising it as well.

You probably want one of these made by [url="http://www.sandberg-guitars.de/"]Sandberg[/url]:



Cheaper and some might say more versatile than the equivalent SR5. You can ask for minor custom tweaks too if they don't involve a lot of work.

Sticking my project managers hat on for a sec, a bit of risk management might be a good idea - the ol' Avoid/Offset/Mitigate/Manage bit.

PLUS:

We need a venue.

We need someone to pay for everything at risk (at least until the expenses can be recouped).

We need a reason for people to come and pay us money.

We need people to take responsibility for organising and delivering it. This is going to be very difficult unless well organised and people must be reliable - not give up when it gets stressful or frustrating.

Lets also understand what is feasible given the resources we have for this forum.

I remember my Dad's 1970's Readers Digest DIY manual had a set of pages on wood colour which would have answered that question perfectly. Its in NZ now unfortunately and I don't have the most recent version to check.

However you could probably answer that question by wiping half of one face of each piece of wood with some meths or white spirit.

I have a black 5 string ABM bridge unit if you're interested - the finish is a little worn but it works fine. You could get a Steinberger headpiece off Ebay which allows you to anchor the strings either using an allen key and nut, or using DB end strings.

How many vintagilator controls will the rack mount version have Dave?

considering how fastidious Dawn is about recording the serials of the necks they sell, I'd be surprised if they didn't have a record somewhere - for tax purposes if nothing else.

Who did Rob give it to? Mark King? I suppose Mark King sold it through a shop like the Bass Centre on consignment or something??

How old is your Stingray?

Most people like the sound of a brass nut but if I was you, I'd be considering the Warwick adjust-a-nut if it matched the width of your existing nut. You can get them through the bass centre.

As for pickups, there's nothing inherently wrong with the stock pickup. Why do you find the pole pieces sharp? They didn't leave the factory that way.

In my experience:
Bartolini - warm sounding, but woolly. Best suited for warm sounding basses.
Seymore Duncan - lacking in warmth a little. Good for a modern tone.
Nordstrand - probably the best balanced out of the three but the preEB pickup is still warmer.
Delano - I've not tried one in a stingray yet but in Sandberg basses, they're warm and clear.

[url="http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?code=252906&userid={4E0724A5-87A5-4347-9281-B924387187FE}&filler1=see&filler2=suggestion"]http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?co...ler2=suggestion[/url]

Tickets (£15) to see The Producers featuring Trevor Horn, Lol Creme, Stephen Lipsome on 24th July at the Jazz Cafe.

[i][url="http://www.myspace.com/producersofficial"]http://www.myspace.com/producersofficial[/url][/i]

[b]AND[/b]

[i]Drivin Me Crazy-Live Funky House 9 Piece Band

27 Jul 2007, 22:00
Parker Street corner Drury Lane, London, wc2b 5pw
Cost : £10 after 9pm. Show starts at 10pm. free b4 9pm.

Live Funky and Latin House featuring 2 special guests and the usual 9 piece funky house line up. This time it's a FRIDAY night so expect big crowds.
[url="http://www.myspace.com/drivinmecrazymusic"]http://www.myspace.com/drivinmecrazymusic[/url][/i]

I'm going - anyone else?

[quote name='paul, the' post='24218' date='Jun 27 2007, 11:56 PM']Theoretically, this could be done on the review forum, but there isn't really enough infrastructure for consistency or for enticing people to post reviews of previously owned instruments.

Anyway, it's just the dream, I don't think it's feasible with the BC forum interface.[/quote]

If we installed the Wiki which we had on Basstalk (yes, the Wiki that almost noone used) then this would be possible. We also have a reviews section which can be added to.

You could always chew the rabbits instead. Very tasty slow roasted with a thick brown gravy, cranberry jelly and walnut mash.

I can't imagine a nastier thing to happen to any of my gear, apart from physical impacts. Bass cases are a classic magnet for cats and the smell of some of the adhesives used to stick the linings can encourage them to get jiggy with their bladders.

Dealing with the residue is simple enough with a damp cloth. However the smell might require more work. There are a lot of home remedies involving vinegar and stuff that I've never found have worked much at all. The stinky component of the pee is made out of alkaloids so using solutions of bleach or other normal house cleaning stuff (which are alkaline) isn't going to get rid of the smell. You need something that can dissolve the alkaloids like a degreaser.

There are products on the market but you might never get rid of the smell if its been absorbed into the paper cone.

It might be worth setting up an account with Fedex - they've offered me particularly impressive service, all geared proactively towards getting me my item ASAP. I also bought what wood I did purchase for tops (maple/redwood) in large slabs to be cut up later. For a while I had a mate in the US who owned a whole maple plantation in Washington state and he was supplying me with mildly spalted sausage quilt maple tops until some chainsaw kickback did his wrist in and he had to give up milling.

Its about an hour if you drive about 90mph most of the way up the A3 like everyone does on a week night.

I was born in Warsash on the mouth of the Hamble - it was used for filming Howards Way in the 80's.

welcome Mark, whereabouts in Hampshire are you?

[quote name='skelf' post='23802' date='Jun 26 2007, 10:57 PM']Was Jaws a boy,I really was not paying that much attention to the film.[/quote]

Alan, what on earth were you distracted by?

[quote name='The Burpster' post='23353' date='Jun 26 2007, 07:49 AM']Chris, I believe Kiwi (the point of his reply) has been trying to obtain the correct sound for the piece of music that he has been asked to play........

That sound MAY have required a specific sound, or maybe the [b]band[/b] required a specific sound or look, hence his post above.......[/quote]

In my experience, having the right instruments for the song makes a hell of a difference to how inspired other people in the band feel about their playing. I've heard musicians lift the standard of their playing to match the quality of the sounds they hear.

Its not just bass either. What about if the keys player is using an organ patch on a Casio home keyboard instead of using a Nord Electro 2? OK its adequate and you'll get by, but is adequacy the standard you want to achieve musically (he asks rhetorically)?

I've decided my Smith 6 isn't used enough to justify keeping it. Its usually used for recording chordal bits but now I have a guitar there's not much need for me to use it by itself. The two 5's get used mostly on stage and the c string on the 6 just tends to get in the way of the guitar in the mix.

However, because I'm embarking on some MIDI programming, I think there will still be a need for a way of inputting chordal data using something other than a keyboard (which I can use but I'm not particularly nimble on being a leftie).

I had an email exchange with Rob Green about my ambitions for a headless MIDI Status Stealth 6 and it looked like there were so many unknowns for him in what I wanted that I was potentially opening myself up to a lot of risk cost wise if the build process wasn't straight forward. That is, I was going to end up paying through the nose for anything that wasn't straight forward to install.

So I had a chat to Jon Shuker about a headless 6, given the gorgeous shape of johngh's, but with a maple/wenge neck and the Graphtec Ghost MIDI piezo pickups/"Hexpander" convertor. The bass is going to be used in my lounge and rehearsal studios mostly rather than on stage and a headstock has tended to get in the way with low ceilings. Plus I just like the look and feel of headless basses and I've wanted one for a looooooooong time. Jon already has the piezo saddles I want in stock too so he's used to working with them, hopefully that will mean the cost risk is lower.

I will need to sell my Smith 6 to cover the cost, however but hopefully the Shuker will sound better.

BUMP! Anyone else not seen this?

[quote name='Muppet' post='23917' date='Jun 27 2007, 10:30 AM']as far as innovations go, I'd like to be able to recall preprogrammed preamp settings, though I'm sure someone's though of that already.[/quote]

Yes, Vigier offered it on their basses in the late 80's while we were all still in love with technology

I've got a few ideas for a nifty neck system but I'd like to get it patented at some point.

There's an old Alembic Series 2 called the "Dragon Bass" which has movable pickups mounted on brass rails. I really like the idea of movable pickups and wish someone would invent a system that is relatively easy to install.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='23945' date='Jun 27 2007, 11:54 AM']Warwick's Fortress and Streamer "Pro M". Stick a Twin Jazz Pick-up half-way between the bridge and neck and apply a separate 2 band EQ to each coil.
Bet it worked, but where is it now? (I'd like to try it!)[/quote]
Tobias had that kind of idea with their Growler bass, basically a separate eq per coil.

My favoruite whacky bass is this - I have gas for it.

Believe it or not, you can adjust the top bout angle to get a body width you're comfortable with. He also had a prototype with moveable pickups but I've not seen that on a production bass yet.